Week 5_ Blog 4

In the final chapter, chapter 11, two different types of cultures are described. Individualist culture where they view the world from the point of view of the self and collectivist culture is when believe n the common good over self interest, value group and family identity over individual achievement. Referring to the cheer team that I coach, I believe that it is more of a collectivist culture and individualistic culture. If one girl looks bad, she makes the rest of the team look bad as well. This can be applied in any team since there is no I on team.

Week 5_ Blog 3

In chapter 9, motivation is the degree to which an individual is personally committed to expanding effort in the accomplishment of a specific activity or goal. A leader can communicate to its employees by providing information or feedback on tasks, goals, performances and also give them future direction or by communicating encouragement, empathy and concern. As a coach it is important that I motivate them especially in these forms. Whether they are doing a cheer, a routine, or a stunt, I have to give them feedback and constructive criticism so they know where and how to improve. I also must always give encouragements so that they would what to try harder and concern and empathy when it is need.

Week 5_ Blog 5

In the web lecture Democracy and Dialogue the term competitive democracy is referred to as individuals who compete for various positions in government that serve the interests of the larger group. We have a competitive democracy in cheer when it comes to electing a new cheer captain. At the end of every summer after they have had time to get to know each other the girls they nominate and the vote for whom they want as their captain. It is very competitive.

Week 5_ Blog 1

In Chapter 10 the term differentiation caught my eye. Differentiation is a popular business strategy that highlights unique and special qualities of a company’s product or service. Thinking back to my previous work experience I believe that I can relate this term to when I worked for Macy’s. The company really put an emphasis on “outstanding service”. For example, the correct way to answer the phone was by ending the greeting in “How may I provide you with ‘outstanding service’ today?” or when closing a sale we would end it with, “ I hope I was able to provide you with ‘outstanding service’ today”. At Macy’s everything was about the “outstanding service”.

Week 4_ Blog 4

I thought that the web lecture was really interesting. The concept Persuasive Communication Environment is describes as how we communicate today. With recent technology, we are able to communicate whenever with anyone in the world through text, audio, video and voice capabilities. When I studies abroad I was communicated with everyone back home in many ways. I communicated with many of my friends and family through phone calls, email, and sites like myspace and facebook. With communication like this, I had no problem keeping touch. Now that I am home, it has also allowed me to keep in touch with friends that I made abroad and my host family.

Week 4_ Blog 3

In chapter 8 they mentioned how many American work under a team- based organization. A team based organization is one that has restructured itself around independent decision making groups. Some member of a group may work in one or more groups and also have individual responsibilities outside of the group work. In an organization there could be three types of teams: project teams, work teams, and quality improvement teams. I am going to volunteer at the Olympics this summer. There is 160 volunteers from the US are in total we have 16 teams all working and doing different duties and projects. This can be considered work teams.

Week 4_ Blog 2

In Chapter 7 the term Emotional Labor is discussed. Arlie Hochschild describes emotional labor as a type of work wherein employees are paid to create a ‘package’ of emotions. The book gives the example of a flight attendant as emotional labor since they have to have a happy face to ensure that the passengers have an enjoyable ride. Another example is working at a restaurant. There were a couple of times when I had bad days and still had to put on a smile on my face for the guest.

Week 4_ Blog 1

In chapter 7 the term work/life conflict refers to the simultaneous influence of work of members’ lives away from work- at home, at leisure, and in families and communities- and the influence of personal life responsibilities and aspirations on members’ experiences at work. This is always a very tough conflict to resolve but in some careers it is important that we separate work from our personal lives for example a psychologist. If a psychologist takes their patients problems personal then they will have a lot of weight on their shoulders and it can take a toll on them.

Week 3_ Blog 4

In Chapter 6, the term resistance is defined as distancing and defending themselves from organizational power. Members of an organization can resist by boycotting for a bigger result such as global transformation or in smaller forms such as individual resistance for a more private form of striking against organizational domination. As a coach I deal with resistance at times. Sometimes when I give punishments as a form of consequences for actions, I always have a girl that will try to give me attitude and that can be considered as their form of resistance.

Week 3_ Blog 3

Chapter 6- Critical Approaches to Organization and Communication, discusses the concept of Power. The definition of power is a based on the assumption that something a person or group possesses can be exercised through actions. French and Bertram came up with five types of social power. They are reward power, coercive power, referent power, expert power, and legitimate power. It seems as through reward power, coercive power and legitimate power are all powers based off of hierarchy. For example, a manager or a boss holds these powers because they have high positions. However, it seems that with referent power and expert power, it is based on respect and admiration. People hold these powers because other people are willing to do what they ask. For example, a manager may hold reward, coercive, and legitimate powers automatically but could also hold referent and expert powers because their employees respect and look up to them.

Week 3_ Blog 2

In Chapter 5, socialization is the process by which people learn the rules, norms, and expectations of the culture over time. Socialization has three stages: Anticipatory socialization, organizational assimilation, organizational turning points. The stage that I dislike the most is organizational assimilation. This is the stage where a newcomer tries to make sense of the organization. When I start a new job, I hate being the new person mainly because I often get overwhelmed trying to get used to the company and trying to get to know the people. It is always frustrating the first couple weeks because it is too much information in a short amount of time.

Week 3_ Post 1

In Chapter 5 we turn our attention to cultural studies of organizations and communication. In an organizational culture there are cultural elements. One of those elements is rituals, which is a culture’s basic values and can range in scope from personal, day- to- day routines for accomplishing tasks to annual organization- wide celebrations of top performance. I am in a sorority and every Monday nights we have meetings that can be considered as an organization ritual. These meetings allow us to get together and discuss upcoming events and bring up questions and concerns. Since we have over 60 members, they keep us all on the same page.

Week 2_ Blog 4

Chapter 4 brings up the topic of organizational goals. As mentioned in the book, I think that in an organization having different goals for different levels is best because what is good for one level of the system will not always be good for other levels. This can also applied to my cheer team. Each girl has different strengths and weakness so have to take that into consideration when we are developing a new routine so that the over all performance looks good. For example, one girl’s strength might be in stunts and another girl’s strength might in tumbling, they are in different levels therefore during practices they will have different goals so that they can better compliment each other as a team.

Week 2_ Blog 3

In chapter 4 the topic of communication and organizations carries over. In the beginning of the chapter they refer to interdependence as the wholeness of the system and its environment and to the interrelationships of individuals within the system. For example, The cheer advisor and I have interdependence but my responsibilities as a coach effect her more than her responsibilities as an advisor effect me. As the on campus advisor, she works with other teachers and for the school or games. If I were to do a poor job coaching it would reflect on the team or vice versa if the team did a great performance her colleagues will comment to her since everyone know her and see her more.

Week 2_ Post 2

Another term used in chapter three is Hierarchy. Hierarchy is the vertical arrangement of power and authority. This is what distinguishes managers from employees. Hierarchy can be found in any type of organization such as schools, clubs, teams, businesses, or even in a family. In the Cheer team we also have a pyramid of hierarchy. On the bottom of the pyramid are the cheerleaders, then is the captain, next are the coach and advisor, and on top is the athletic director. I believe that having a hierarchy is a good way to manage an organization.

Week 2_ Blog 1

In Chapter 3 the concept of Division of Labor was defined as the separation tasks into discrete units. The division of labors occurred during the rise of modern factories in the time of the industrial period. This marked the industrial revolution. I find this concept to be a very important component of every work place setting and also in a school setting. Sometimes certain classes require a group project and to make the work load easier, different tasks are separated amongst the group members. As a coach, I divide some responsibilities with the on-campus advisor. Division of labor makes it easier to get things done and sometimes they rely on another’s task completion.

Introduction

Hello class... my name is Adriana and I am a senior. My major is in Communication Studies and my minor is Psychology. I am a full time student and a part time cheer coach at a high school. I have found that communication is very important as a coach as well as many other aspects in my life. I look forward to learn about organizational communication and meeting you all!